A growing economy appears to have made Coloradans more hungry to eat out. Food and drinking establishments account for about one out of five net new jobs added in the state this year.
And the industry’s 6.2 percent job growth rate in Colorado this year is the fastest of any state and the strongest here since 1995, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“When people have jobs, they have more disposable income. And when they have more disposable income, they go out to eat,” said Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association.
Food-service employment through the first nine months of the year rose by 12,460 positions from the first nine months of 2013, and about 7,060 of those new jobs came in the metro Denver area.
Restaurant marketing consultant John Imbergamo said he has noticed that new restaurant openings versus closings this year are running three to one and, in some months, four to one.
“We are seeing some restaurateurs who have one restaurant opening their second or those with two opening their third,” he said.
Union Station’s redevelopment alone brought 10 new restaurants to the market in a 30-day span this past summer, and new eateries continue to pop up in places such as the River North Art District, along Colfax Avenue and in suburban pockets such as Northglenn’s Webster Lake Promenade.
Chef and entrepreneur Jennifer Jasinski, a client of Imbergamo’s, hired 80 people when she opened a Union Station eatery called Stoic & Genuine. Despite a mile-high altitude, the seafood venue serves everything from Black River Oscietra caviar to loaded lobster rolls.
Jasinski said finding qualified staff, especially in the kitchen, proved much more difficult this time around than it was when she opened Euclid Hall four years ago.
“Being a cook is hard work and not glamorous, and all the skilled cooks are having an easy time getting work,” Jasinski said.
She managed to staff up by promoting workers from her other three restaurants, leaving more entry-level positions that were a little easier to fill.
Imbergamo notes that the state’s talented chefs-turned-restaurateurs have trained another generation of entrepreneurs who are breaking off on their own.
Among the trends he has noticed: Founders of fine-dining venues, such as Frasca in Boulder, are expanding into more casual eateries, such as Pizzeria Locale in Denver, and the creative reinvention of old standards such as hamburgers.
Fast-casual restaurants are doing especially well, the poster child being Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill, which on Oct. 20 reported a nearly 20 percent jump in same-store sales
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Proving less popular are fast-food joints, where stretched consumers went during the downturn when they had fewer dollars in their pockets, Imbergamo said.
Given that Colorado’s unemployment rate is again under 5 percent, could the restaurant hiring wave siphon off workers from other sectors or cause restaurants and bars to cannibalize one another’s staff?
Riggs said she isn’t hearing any whispers of the late 1990s, when the labor market was so tight that restaurant managers would visit competitors to dine in an effort to raid wait staff.
Food-service work represents a first job for many teenagers and young adults, Riggs notes, and that age group, more than any, still needs the most help with employment opportunities.
The unemployment rate among 16- to 19-year-olds last year in Colorado was 21.7 percent, while 20- to 24-year-olds were unemployed at an 11.7 percent rate.
Those numbers don’t account for the large number of workers in that age range who simply gave up looking for a job.
Robust restaurant hiring would also be more worrisome if other, higher-paying sectors of the economy weren’t growing. Colorado ranks first among states in health care hiring, fourth in local government hiring, and fifth in hiring in scientific and technical professions. It also makes the top 10 for construction and manufacturing hiring.
And contrary to the stereotype of the “McJob,” the median wage for tipped restaurant workers in the state is $16 to $22 an hour, Riggs said.
Although food-service hiring is among the most robust of any industry in the state, it averages out to slightly more than one worker added per establishment so far this year.
There are about 11,000 eating and drinking establishments in the state, with expected sales of $9.8 billion this year, according to the Colorado Restaurant Association.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi
